How to Prune an Apple Tree

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Pruning your apple tree leads to a larger harvest.
Pruning your apple tree leads to a larger harvest.
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A well-organized plan to pruning makes it easy.
A well-organized plan to pruning makes it easy.

“You don’t have to be a graduate tree surgeon to improve the appearance, yield, and general health of an apple tree,” says Richard Korst of Samuels, Idaho. “In fact, anyone with some shears and a pruning saw–and some common sense–can handle the job.”

Whether you want to restore vigor to that aging apple tree in the backyard, ensure the success of a recently planted sapling, or increase the yield of a whole orchard . . . you’d do well–especially now, while the sap’s down and the leafless branches are easy to see–to explore the advantages you can derive from a little judicious tree pruning.

Few things are as beneficial to a fruit tree as regular pruning. A properly trimmed tree is not only more pleasing to the eye than its untrained counterpart, but can yield more and better fruit AND live a healthier life . . . all of which adds up to money in your pocket.

And speaking of money, tree pruning is a marketable skill that can pay your bills if you live anywhere near commercial orchards. (As a traveling tree pruner, I find it profitable every year to trek 300 miles from the woods of northern Idaho to the lush orchards of central Washington!)

Tools for Pruning Trees

  • Published on Nov 1, 1976
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